Tennessee Tech awarded Trustee Butch Wilmore with the Order of the Eagle Honor Thursday, just the second time the honor has been awarded in the University’s history.
Tech President Phil Oldham said the award recognizes Wilmore’s unparalleled service to his alma mater. In addition, the Board of Trustees approved a resolution to name the new pedestrian walkway completed last year to Wilmore Way.
“Needless to say, I’m touched, grateful,” Wilmore said. “Thank you, doesn’t seem like it’s enough. Doesn’t seem sufficient. You know, the good Lord puts you in a position. He gives you the ability. He surrounds you with special people, special opportunity, and then something like this. I feel unworthy. I am unworthy. But I am also grateful.”
Wilmore spent 286 days in space aboard the International Space Station after issues developed with the Boeing Starliner. Wilmore’s trip originally set for eight days. During the trip, the NASA veteran held sessions with Tennessee Tech students and frequently communicated with President Phil Oldham and his fellow trustees.
Trustees Chair Trudy Harper read the resolution approving the Trustees’ blessing of Wilmore Way.
“Whereas Captain Wilmore represents the Tennessee Tech mantra of being bold, fearless, confident and kind in all that he does and is highly deserving of a permanent place of honor or on the university campus, be it resolved that the Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees on this 26th day of June, 2025, hereby supports the President’s naming of Wilmore Way, a pedestrian walkway across the center of campus, as a lasting symbol of the university’s gratitude and pride for Captain Wilmore’s accomplishments and character,” Harper read.
Wilmore left speechless when Nashville Special Olympian Pam Inman presented Wilmore with her gold medal. Inman reached out to the University during Wilmore’s trip via handwritten letter.
“I have won lots of medals,” Inman wrote in the letter. “Some of our motto says, ‘let me be brave.’ I was brave when I got breast cancer four years ago. I think the astronaut, Mr. Wilmore was brave. I’m sending you my gold medal to give to him. He has earned it.”
Inman presented Wilmore with the gold medal in person Thursday. Her niece attends Tennessee Tech.
The Order Of The Eagle stands as the University’s highest honor, awarded just once to the Derryberrys. The award features an Eagle atop the award. It is a 3-D replica of the original eagle atop the Derryberry Hall Clock Tower. Oldham said the statute was scanned during the 2014 refurbishment of the building. The base was made from campus hollies cut down. Local artist Brad Sells crafted the piece.
“We prayed for you before you left,” Harper said. “And I know we continued to pray for you while you were there. And I know you felt it. And I told somebody earlier, if there were a heat map of prayer, I bet Houston and Cookeville would have been tops.”
